Specialized Sirrus expert - cracked frame? help!

delsur

Hi All,
I bought and Specialized Sirrus Expert in October 2009, now only 8 months later, I found a 17mm thin crack on the top bar (as shown in the picture) at approximately 80mm from the seat post. I only managed to get to the shop were I bought it 2 days after I noticed the crack. In those two days, rode it extremely carefully. the morning I took it to the shop I noticed a very small dent (aprox 1mm diameter) on the opposite side of the other crack but this time closer to the seat post.
is that a crack? is the frame collapsing? Specialized said the frame is fine and wont replace it? any advice on how to dealt with this?

Thanks

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supersonic

It does look more like a scratch from here, but the shop will be able to tell in more detail. If a crack, should be a warranty job.

delsur

HI supersonic,. is not an scratch for sure. the shop where I bought it send it to Specialized and they say they have a letter from Spec. saying that it is fine to ride and won;t replace the frame. I was just wondering if someone had the same problem with this bike, at the end of the day, is a £1000 bike and can not crack nor the paint can crack in 8 months.

The Rookie

An alloy frame with a crack isn't safe to ride, alluminium alloy propogates cracks very quickly, and seeing as enough load was going into it to create a crack in the first place....

Do specialized acknowledeg it is a crack? As from the photo it really doesn't look like one, both ends should taper to nothing a crack cannot open one end like that apears to.

Simon

supersonic

As above, if Spesh say it is not cracked then it will be fine to ride.

Also I agree with the nature, it just doesn't look like a crack in the metal work at all.

delsur

Hi the beginner. I would like to think that I'm not that heavy for a XL frame. I'm 6.1" and I weight 85 / 90 kilos. To be honest I had/have no idea how an aluminium frame cracks. The bit that worries me is that that crack/mark came from nowhere and 2 days later there was a small dent very close to the other crack/mark and I'm 100% sure that I didn't hit with anything at all.

supersonic

It does look to be in the just the paint work. Sometimes catching it with a zip is enough to cause something like that.

But you say there is 2 marks, as in 'other'?

nicklouse

i can not see a crack there.

if Spesh say it is fine then dont worry.

delsur

thanks all for your comments, but lets say it is a paint job, isn't it a faulty frame??. I always use my Endura cycling short and they don't have anything sharp to make that kind of mark. and also it won't explain the small 1mm diameter piece of paint that came off.

The Rookie

Many things can damage the paint on a bike frame, its not structural, and certainly no indication of a faulty frame underneath the paint, otherwise near every frame would be scrapped by the first paint chip caused by chain slap on the rear stays!

Where on the frame is the 'mark'?

Simon

delsur

HI The Beginner
the 2 "marks" are on the top tube around 80mm from the seat post

supersonic

A tiny scratch in the paint and a ONE mm flake is not a fault!!! Could have been a stone chip flying up, many things - paint isn't indestructable.

I wouldn't worry about it, almost all bikes have marks if you look hard enough.

delsur

I don't mind having scratches on the frame, but I think that question that I want to ask is if it is not a structural problem as they say and it is a paint one, and I'm 100% sure that nothing hit the frame nor anything sharp touch the frame, am I intitle to ask fro a new frame if it is only 8 month old. My other bike is a Ridgeback and it is 8 year old and paint is perfect all over the frame. Why should I pay £1000 and have scrathes and I haven't done.

jimwocko

Has no-one blamed wiggle yet?!

Are you serious though, bikes get scratched and paint flakes. I recently cracked a mountain bike frame, the crack was very obvious, and full warranty job was no problem. I can't believe that your LBS would even send it back to Spesh for this.

supersonic

It is not a structural defect - this has been verified by Specialized. I have seen many cracked frames, and this is my opinion, and Nicks who is also a very experienced mechanic [and engineer] plus a few others.

It is likely an accidental scratch that you didn't know happened. As I said, could have been something thrown up on the road, another person brushing by, tons of reasons.

But a structural fault it is not. The way it propagates, and depth shows that.

Here are some fractures:









Yours is well away from any welds, and not even in a highly stressed area.

The Northern Monkey

Is this a joke?

Anonymous

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Is this a joke?

^^THIS

delsur

HI Northen Monkey, good to know that you have the knowledge to know how a crack starts. I have an idea about how an old aluminium frame with thick aluminium tube cracks but I have no idea how a lightweight E5 aluminium frame does (the whole bike is aprox 10kilos). I read some blogs that talk about thin hair cracks in lightweight aluminium frames, that's why I took it to the shop. If i had the knowledge, I wouldn't post a msg here....

projectsome

Anonymous

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The Rookie

Not sure if the OP is a troll or not.....but prefer to give the benefit of the doubt!

While not as experienced as Nick or SS when it comes to bikes but I am an engineer with over 20 years in the automotive industry, and metal is metal.

The picture shows nothing that looks like a crack, different alluminium alloys crack slightly differently but not that much!

10Kg isn't light, my commuter is less than that and its 7005 single butted with a 1.8Kg frame.

Simon

ellieb

You should definitely demand a new frame. After all the bike is only 8 months old, and it is an extremely disfiguring scratch.

cat_with_no_tail

cee

if those are the only marks on the frame after 8 months...i'd say youv'e been looking after it really well and been lucky not to scuff it more....

was the mark there when you bought it? Or has it recently appeared?

If it recently appeared...then you did it! Whether you realised or not...its the only explanation....

paint chips happen......certainley not a warranty job....

it does look like any number of marks on most frames....you reckon no zips on shorts etc, but a clip with your shoe that you wouldn't even feel or a hundred other things could have caused it....